CSE seeks capital market dev policies in budget

The Chittagong Stock Exchange on Sunday urged the government to include policies and strategies to improve the capital market in the national budget.The port city bourse made the request at a post-budget press conference at its Dhaka office premises.The CSE said that the proposed financial bill that the finance minister AMA Muhith placed before parliament on June 7 did not reflect the demands made by the capital market stakeholders.CSE managing director M Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar said that the governmentshould include in the budget the continuous development policies for the country’s capital market.He said that the unrest in the financial sector hugely affected the capital market as the capitalisation of the financial sector holds more than 50 per cent of the total market capitalisation.Therefore, the government should find out weaknesses in the financial sector and to take necessary strategic measures to reduce the current disorder, he said.He also said that the capital market went through notable reforms in recent years that should be utilised.The capital market badly needs new products, which could only be possible if the government favours the market with policies and strategies, Shaifur said.He urged the government to make clear policies and directives to list the state-run companies and multinational companies with the capital market.Shaifur also requested the government to cut the corporate tax by 2.5 percentage points for all the listed companies in the market.The bourse also urged the government to form a national base strong regulatory co-ordination committee to develop the capital market.CSE officials also requested the government to reduce the source tax on share transaction and provide incentives to enlist the new companies with the market.They also requested the government to strengthen the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh for making its role more effective in the capital market.